User blog:Kazanshin/Barbarians made Kings: Aterui vs Fritigern
"Barbarians". The word used to describe all who look unfamiliar to us. Those who we look down upon and who we have stomped on for centuries. Those who we call "savages", "brutes" and "uncivilized". These two men would not stand against such injury, against them and against their people. Today, I bring you two of history's greatest Barbarian rebel leaders of the 4th century, to have you behold the fury of these people and the might that made the greatest empires tremble! ATERUI, the Emishi warlord who lead the people of Tohoku against the Yamato dynasty and built what would later become the foundation of the famous Samurai! FRITIGERN, the Gothic leader who's incursions into Roman territory and victory in the Roman-Gothic war began the long march towards the fall of the Roman Empire! WHO. IS. DEADLIEST!? 最強の戦士は誰だ！？ ''Aterui of Isawa Aterui= Aterui（阿弖流為）of the Misawa Emishi was a tribal leader of the Emishi tribes of Tohoku from his unknown birth date to his death in the 21rst year of Enryaku (802 AD) famous for his desperate struggle against the invasions of the Japanese dynasty of Yamato to defend Northern Japan from their conquest during the 38 years war. Very little is known about this mysterious man other than the fact that sometime around the 8th year of Enryaku (789 AD), he rallied multiple tribes of Emishi to form a confederation and stand against the Yamato, sparking the thirty-eight years war between the Emishi and the Yamato. After his victory against Sei Taishogun Ki Nokosami, especially at the battle of Subushi village, Aterui and the Emishi pushed the Yamato forces out of Tohoku until the arrival of Aterui's greatest rival: Sakanoue no Tamuramaro. While the war between these two legendary leaders is little-known, Tamuramaro eventually defeated Aterui and pushed him and his right-hand man More to surrender to the Yamato alongside 500 Emishi warriors. While Tamuramaro tried to convince the Yamato bureaucrats to let Aterui live, it was finally decided that he and the captured Emishi would be executed. To this day, Aterui is remembered as a brave hero who fought for the rights and lands of his tribes. |-|Heavy infantry= '''Emishi Warriors:' The Emishi were mainly archers and riders. However, warriors on foot were obviously also present as shown by heavily armored Dogu dolls made by Emishis. While likely not as skilled as the horsemen or as well equipped as the heavier-armed Yamato infantry, these warriors were a fearsome force capable of holding their own against their more numerous and better armed Yamato counterpart, armed with the tedate hand shield, a staple of pre-Heian armies, and the op spear, a metal headed spear used for hunting and for war. However, their most iconic weapon was the warabiteto sword, which is said to be the ancestor of the katana. While shorter (60cm in length) than their opponents', the curve on this sword is said to have given the warabiteto a distinct power advantage over the straight swords of the Yamato. It is also likely that some of them would have carried hunting weapons such as the kumayari throwing spear. The Emishi, being resourceful people, were also quick to adopt Yamato armor into their arsenal, with those fortunate enough to afford or scavenge them wearing tanko iron cuirass armor and kabuto helms, an early form of Japanese plate armor crafte with two large plates of metal rivetted together, while those without this luck wore less protective leather lamellar. |-|Light infantry= Emishi Foot Archers: As mentioned earlier, the Emishi, while mainly horsemen, did fight on foot and made good use of their archery skills even without their trusted horses. On foot like on horse, their main weapon was the Ebisu Yumi shortbow. However, as Ebisu Yumi refers to all bows used by non-Wajin people of Japan, it is difficult to determine what kinds of bows he Emishi used. Thankfully, we do have some clues: the Ainu, who are thought to be the descendants of the Emishi, used wooden self-bows known as Ku. This could be used as an argument to say the Emishi's bows were like the Ku self-bows. However, Korean recurve bows that came into Japanese hands were described as "similar to the Ebisu Yumi". Furthermore, drawings in the Kiyomizudera Engi Emaki show the Emishi using both self and recurve bows. As such, it is likely both recurve bows similar in shape to Chinese and Korean ones and self-bows were used by the Emishi. It is also possible the arrows were tipped with wolfbane poison as it had been done by the Ainu. At home with the cut and thrust of melee combay, the Emishi were equipped for with the warabiteto sword and tedate shields smaller than those used by heavy infantry warriors. They were, like their heavier counterparts, armored in either scavenged or locally crafted iron cuirass or cheaper and lighter leather lamellar. Emishi crossbowmen: While definitely not a very common sight, Emishi have been known to steal and use Yamato crossbows during their multiple rebellions. With Aterui's forces having defeated multiple Yamato armies and the Emishi people's apparent interest in the weapon, there's no reason to believe some of them wouldn't have adopted it. These men were equipped with a scavenged ishiyumi crossbow, a design based on Chinese ones imported during the Yayoi period, and could fire further than typical bows and had a greater probability of penetrating armor. While slower to fire than bows, these crossbows offered a powerful sting to any army with access to them. For close-combat, they had the iconic warabiteto sword and were armored like the others in leather cuirass, but considering they had already scavenged a crossbow, they were far more likely to have a tanko iron cuirass. |-|Cavalry= Emishi Horse Archers: Cavalry was the bread and butter of the Emishi. It is one of the main reasons why they were so successful in their battle against the infantry-oriented Yamato armies. The Emishi horsemen were extremely skilled in combat and absolutely demolished the earlier versions of the Yamato armies, forcing them to adopt the same tactics as the Emishi, leading to the eventual mounted archer style of combat employed by the samurai. In fact, some Emishi who had fought for the Yamato actually became very famous Samurai clans. The Emishi horsemen not only included common men with access to horses but also the Emishi nobility. While the lesser men would wear scavenged leather or iron tanko cuirass and kabuto helms, which were good in their own right, the nobles would have even better armor in the form of keiko iron lamellar, which was armor specifically crafted for cavalry by mainland steppe nomads. Unlike common footsoldiers, the nobles and wealthy men who could already afford a horse would be equipped with the tsurugi double-edged sword, which occupied a similar place in the Japanese military of that time as the Jian did in China: a weapon reserved for the high-class soldiers such as officers contrarily to the common man's weapon (in China, the dao, in Japan, the chokuto or warabiteto). The tsurugi, being longer than the warabiteto, would likely have been favored by cavalrymen more than the shorter warabiteto. They also likely used scavenged chokuto single-edged swords used widely by the Yamato, which was longer and better suited for cavalry than the warabiteto. And of course, the horsemen would be equipped with the valuable Ebisu Yumi composite bow thanks to their wealth, allowing them to pepper and harass enemy forces with light cavalry tactics before moving away quickly and charging in when the time was right. If needed, the Eishi horsemen were also more than capable of dismounting and engaging their enemies in foot combat, acting as heavy archers with their high-quality armor, powerful bows and long swords. ''Fritigern of the Thervingi Fritigern= Fritigern (also Fritigernus, died c. 380 CE) was a Visigothic king best known as the victor of the decisive Battle of Adrianople in 378 CE, which decimated the Roman army and haunted Roman military commanders for decades afterwards. He was a Thervingi Goth who converted to Arian Christianity and challenged the authority of the Visigothic king Athanaric (d. 381 CE), who persecuted the Gothic Christians, plunging the region into the Gothic Civil War of the early 370's CE. Bested by Athanaric, he appealed to the Roman emperor Valens for assistance but still failed to unseat his rival. After his defeat, Fritigern led his followers across the Danube River into the Roman Empire in 376 CE to escape not only Athanaric's wrath but also the invasion of the Huns. Once he and his followers were in Roman territory, they found their situation rapidly deteriorating under corrupt provincial governors and revolted, initiating the First Gothic War with Rome (378-382 CE) in which the Battle of Adrianople played a key role early on. |-|Heavy infantry='Gothic warriors:' The goths, being Germanic people, had a long tradition of heavy infantry armed, with warriors seeking glory and fame charging into battle to prove their worth. As such, many men served as heavy infantrymen, armed with all sorts of melee weapons. The most popular one of them was the '''framea spear', which was a common weapon used by all Germanic people and was known to be their main weapon since the times before Jesus. Some richer Goths would have had access to a migration period sword, a longsword similar to the Roman spatha. These weapons would be wielded alongside a common wooden oval shield that served as the main defense for the warriors. Some warriors could be fortunate enough to scavenge lorica hamata mail armor from dead Romans. They were also known for carrying a variety of throwing weapons which they would cast before charging in, such as the francisca and the angon. |-|Light infantry= Germanic Skirmishers: The poorest of the gothic troops and the retainers of the wealthier ones served as light skirmishers, similarly to earlier Greek peltasts and Roman velites. They wore no armor at all to keep their mobility except for the standard wooden shield and carried various throwing weapons, including the angon, the francisca, or just the normal javelin. They would be used to screen the main force and skirmish the enemy before moving away or move around the flanks of the enemy once close combat begun. Iff caught by the enemy, they could either use their throwing weapons in melee, hacking with axes and thrusting with spears, or carried some srt of spear or shortsword. Germanic archers: While the bow was certainly much rarer than the javelin among Germanic people, it still was present as a hunting tool and by extention as a weapon. Far less common than thrown weapons, the bow could outreach its competition by multiple meters and had an easier time killing lightly armed troops. Archers were trained by years of hunting in the woods east of the Rhine and were skilled marksmen, although likely nowhere near as skilled as specialized archer people such a the Huns or Scythians. They carried wooden self bows, which were outranged by recurve bows but were easier to make and maintain. Arrows were made of iron but also of stone and bone as iron was often a precious resource. For close quarters, they were equipped with a sword either long like a spatha or shorter or something a bit more cumbersome like a spear, which offered them protection against cavalry. |-|Cavalry='Gothic horsemen:' Germans were praised by the Romans for their cavalry since the times of the late Republic during which they joined Caesar's army as auxiliary forces and fought against Vercingetorix's Gallic cavalry. The Goths, having inherited this tradition, were very well versed in the use of heavy cavalry. Horsemen were the elites of Gothic society and were wealthy men capable of affording good equipment. They were armed with long framea spears which they used to thrust into their enemies from atop their mighty steed and could mount a powerful charge from horseback, breaking through enemy lines. Their armor was also well made: mail armor was very common alongside ridge helmets. A nobleman with good fortune likely also had access to the arguably more protective scale armor. Some might have also deployed javelins from horseback to increase the devastation their charge brought. Alan light cavalry:'''The Alan were an allied Steppe nomad tribe of Fritigern who fought alongside him against the Romans after being pushed out of their homelands by the Huns. They were reknowned as light cavalrymen like all Steppe nomadic people and filled the role of a moobile flanking and striking force under Fritigern and their Gothic allies. They were armed with a wide variety of weapons, ranging from light thrusting '''lances to steppe nomadic swords similar to Persian akinakes, and even scythian axes which served both as battle axes and war picks. Thy wore very little armor, usually little less than regular clothing and made up for that with their mobility, something the heavier goths lacked. ''Tactics The battle of Subushi=The greatest and best-known battle in Aterui's career is his victory near the village of Subushi, where Aterui's 1500 tribal warriors decisively defeated Shogun Ki Nokosami's 4000 elite soldiers. The Yamato forces had split off a vanguard force of 8000 soldiers picked from the best of the army, the further divided into two armies each of 4000 men to cross a river from two sides. The Emishi first stood against the advance with 300 warriors, who quickly retreated towards the village of Subushi after a brief skirmish. Seeing this, the Japanese forces pushed their advance confidently, expecting to regroup with the other army for an easy victory. However, the other army had been unable to cross the river because of an Emishi vanguard force deployed by Aterui. Then, the first Emishi force came out, this time 800 men strong and mostly of cavalry, and charged into the Yamato forces, using the momentum of their charge to push the far more numerous Japanese back. Following this, 400 more Emishi horsemen who had been ordered to hide there swept down from forested hills behind the Yamato and charged into their rear. Caught in an ambush from both sides, the Yamato started retreating, but the more mobile Emishi kept catching up to them and forcing on their assault. Finally pushed back to the river, the Yamato had no choice but to try to cross the river to escape Aterui. In doing so, many drowned because of the weight of their armor while many of the survivors had to throw their weapons and armor away in order to swim to safety. In the end, the Yamato suffered over 1000 casualties including commander Hasekabe no Zenri, Nokosami's right-hand man, 250 injured men and 1260 soldiers who lost their armor and weapons in the river during their escape, while the Emishi's casualties were very light, with some of the sources I found stating them to be of only 85 men. The battle of Adrianopole=The most famous battle in Fritigern's Gothic war was the battle of Adrianople, in which he faced against the Roman Emperor Valens himself. On the morning of 9 August, Valens decamped from Adrianople, where he left the imperial treasury and administration under guard. The reconnaissance of the preceding days informed him of the location of the Gothic camp north of the city. Valens arrived there around noon after marching for eight miles over difficult terrain. The Roman troops arrived tired and dehydrated, facing the Gothic camp that had been set up on the top of a hill. The Goths, except for their cavalry, defended their wagon circle, inside of which were their families and possessions. Fritigern's objective was to delay the Romans, in order to give enough time for the Gothic cavalry to return. The fields were burnt by the Goths to delay and harass the Romans with smoke, and negotiations began for an exchange of hostages. The negotiations exasperated the Roman soldiers who seemed to hold the stronger position, but they gained precious time for Fritigern. Some Roman units began the battle without orders to do so, believing they would have an easy victory, and perhaps over-eager to exact revenge on the Goths after two years of unchecked devastation throughout the Balkans. The imperial scholae of shield-archers under the command of the Iberian prince Bacurius attacked, but lacking support they were easily pushed back. Then the Roman left-wing reached the circle of wagons, but it was too late. At that moment, the Gothic cavalry, returning from a foraging expedition, arrived to support the infantry. The cavalry surrounded the Roman troops, who were already in disarray after the failure of the first assault. The Romans retreated to the base of the hill where they were unable to maneuver, encumbered by their heavy armor and long shields. The casualties, exhaustion, and psychological pressure led to a rout of the Roman army. The cavalry continued their attack, and the killing continued until nightfall. X-Factors '''Generalship' Fritigern was a trusted king of the Goths, but his people were divided after a civil war (which he lost) against Athanaric. He was nonetheless a caring king who risked all odds to save his people from encroaching Hunnic hordes, literally facing the most powerful Empire of the world to secure a place for his people to live. His warriors followed him to protect their families and people and for the promise of glory and fame in battle. Aterui was similarly loved by his people, who were also divided as some Emishi leaders, known as the Fushu, had betrayed their own kin to join the Yamato. In order to stop the advance of the Yamato dynasty and protect his people's culture, Aterui risked everything he had and faced the Yamato, one of the biggest powers in Asia and the only country that wasn't a tributary state of China, head on. His people fought for the same ideals: to protect their lands and culture from the invaders. Metallurgy While Fritigern's times had already seen widespread use of steel among the more "civilized" bunch, tribal people like the Goths had yet to adopt the metal on a great scale. It was likely far more common to find iron or low carbon steel. Archaeological evidence shows that warabiteto used by the Emishi were made with similar designs to later katanas: with high carbon steel for the blade and low carbon steel for the core. However, most warabitetos were made of lower carbon steel. Experience Fritigern's Gothic War lasted six years until the defeat at Adrianople. The Gothic king had many years of experience prior to the war in the Gothic civil war and later in his Greek campaigns. Because of the relative lack of information on "barbarian" leaders, however, we don't know for sure how long his total military career was. Aterui is in a similar spot. Because of the neglection of Emishi and Hayato people considered "barbarians" by the Yamato, we know little about his life prior to the war with the dynasty. It is known however that the Emishi were warlike people who often fought in small-scale tribal conflicts. The Yamato-Emishi war lasted for 38 years, giving him a lot of military experience, even despite our lack of knowledge about him. Training We know especially little about the military training of both sides. Germanic warriors are often said to have been undisciplined and rebellious, but this is likely propaganda from the Romans as we know of instances where Germanic warriors fought in cohesive units, forming shield walls and phalanxes. The training itself wasn't very well established and warriors probably learned from hunting, raiding, and instruction from more experienced warriors and close ones such as their fathers and older siblings. The Emishi were primarily hunters, even after adopting some agricultural ways from the Yamato, and this was the main source of their skills. Hunting boars and deers from horseback with their powerful bows honed the archery skills of the tribesmen. Tribal warfare was also common until they united against a common enemy and Emishi raids against Yamato settlements were frequent and notorious. Setting Aterui's Emishi army, for a total of 10 000: *2000 Emishi warriors *2500 Emishi archers *500 Emishi crossbowmen *5000 Emishi horse archers Fritigern's Gothic warband, for a total of 10 000 *3000 Gothic warriors *3000 Germanic skirmishers *1000 Germanic archers *2000 Gothic horsemen *1000 Alan light cavalry The battle takes place in a forest area in the Tibetan plateau with neither having prior knowledge of the other or great knowledge of the terrain. The armies can retreat to redeploy and rally, but until one side is completely destroyed or routed they will not stop fighting. Let the game begin! Category:Blog posts